"like sands through the hourglass... so are the...Days of our Lives"

Christyne's "The Teens"  
Fan Fiction Site

Philip slammed his locker shut just as Shawn approached him from behind. Shawn still had his perma-grin plastered on his face – the same one he’d been wearing non-stop since yesterday. "Hey, K-man. How’s it going?" he asked, slapping his hand against Philip’s.

Philip shrugged his shoulders as he punched his fist against Shawn’s. "Fine."

"How’s the wife?" Shawn asked as he and Philip started towards their Lifeskills class.

"Reluctant," Philip sighed. "And you?"

With a gleam in his eye, Shawn replied, "Willing. Very willing."

"Dude, if I hadn’t seen it for myself yesterday I never would have believed it," Philip laughed as he playfully punched Shawn. "I can’t believe you did it. You are so totally whipped!"

Shawn started to protest and then stopped. "Scary thing, isn’t it?" He wanted to change the subject back to Philip so that he didn’t have to deal with the uncomfortable memory of what he had done. "So, you’re having marital problems already, huh? Wouldn’t be of a sexual nature, would it?"

Philip gave Shawn a withering look. "No, I haven’t kissed her yet, if that’s what you’re asking."

"Yet?" Shawn pounced on the word. "Does that mean you’re planning to?"

Planning to? Philip thought. Only every waking and sleeping moment he had. He’d thought of nothing else for the last four days. "No comment."

"Yeah, you and President Clinton both," Shawn joked.

Philip and Shawn reached the classroom and Philip stopped Shawn just outside the door. "Seeing as how you’re officially in a relationship now, I suppose that would make you more of an expert than I am. Maybe you can help me. I don’t get Chloe." He hesitated as if looking for the right words. "She’s…she’s like a sink."

"A sink?" Shawn asked quizzically.

"Yeah, she runs hot and cold. Sometimes I can tell she’s totally into me, and other times it’s like she could care less whether I lived or died," Philip said, frustrated.

"Sounds to me like you need to figure out a way to keep the hot knob turned on," Shawn teased. Philip stopped to ponder over this insight, and a slow smile spread across his face. "You know, I think you’re onto something there, Brady. I just hope that I get a chance before she finds out…" Philip let the words drift off into space.

"Before she finds out about the bet," Shawn finished quietly. The bet hadn’t crossed his mind in days. Belle hadn’t asked him yet why he took Chloe to the dance. What if she did? It could get ugly if she found out.

"Maybe we should just tell them," Shawn said weakly. A sudden wave of panic struck Shawn as he thought of possible consequences. He wasn’t sure he could do it, not now that he finally had Belle. What if it made her hate him?

"Not until I’ve had a chance with Chloe," Philip insisted. "I can keep Jan and Jason quiet until then, and they’re the only ones that know besides us."

A warning bell was going off inside of Shawn. He should be honest with Belle. But how would she feel if she found out what Shawn had done to one of her best friends?

"We’ll tell them when the time is right," Philip said, sounding very unsure. "I mean, what we did…it was horrible. Beyond wrong. Totally despicable."

"I get your point, Philip."

"Wait until Belle makes her point with you," Philip said as he headed towards the door. Shawn followed behind him so that they were both looking into the classroom. Philip sighed when he saw Chloe. "Beautiful, isn’t she?"

Shawn looked at Belle. "Totally." He then noticed that Philip was talking about Chloe. "She’s sitting there looking all sorts of lonely, Kiriakis. Maybe you can go in and sweep her off her feet."

Philip grinned at him. "Good thing I brought my broom. I’m in the mood to do a little sweeping." He self-consciously brushed his fingers through his hair as if to settle it into place.

Every inch of Chloe was aware of the moment that Philip stepped into the classroom. She did her best to look studious, as if she had no idea that he was even there. Why did he have such a powerful effect on her? She dared to look up, and saw that he was staring right at her. He flashed her one of those dazzling, dimple-filled Philip grins. She felt like she could melt off of her stool. He should have to register that smile with the government as a lethal weapon.

"Hi honey, I’m home," Philip said as he took the stool next to her. Chloe glared at him. "Don’t call me that. And this is hardly home."

"Well, I spend more waking hours at school than I do in my house, so this is kind of like a home too," Philip replied. He put his books on the counter in front of him. Chloe noticed when Philip pushed back the piece of hair that always seemed to be falling onto his forehead. She’d been wanting to push it back herself since he’d walked in. She hadn’t seen him since yesterday in her room, and memories of being with him were suddenly filling her head. She had to fight the urge to climb into his lap and start begging him to kiss her.

Philip noticed how Chloe’s eyes were focused on his mouth. "See anything you like?" he asked in a soft voice.

Chloe’s reverie was broken, and she widened her eyes at him, and quickly looked away, her cheeks turning that shade of pink that Philip loved so much. He wanted to laugh, but was sure that if he did it might be the last sound he ever made once Chloe finished killing him.

Philip cleared his throat. "So, how’s our little girl?"

"You finally decided to believe me that she was a girl, huh?" Chloe responded, playing with the cap to her pen, not daring to look at him.

"Figured a mother knows best about these sorts of things," he smiled. "Don’t you think we should name her?"

"What did you have in mind?"

The question caught Philip off-guard. Didn’t girls already have their kids’ names all picked out? "I guess we could name her like, I don’t know, Julie, or Jennifer or something."

"What about Violetta?" Chloe asked.

"Violetta?" Philip echoed.

Chloe smiled at the distress in Philip’s voice. "Yes, Violetta. It’s the name of the female lead from Verdi’s ‘La Traviata.’ She was a courtesan that rejected her love Alfredo to protect him and his family."

"Courtesan?" Philip wrinkled his nose and grimaced. "Wait, I know that word. Wasn’t a courtesan…like a prostitute? You want to name our kid after a prostitute?" he asked, his voice rising with each word, and several students seated near them started staring.

"Would you keep your voice down?" Chloe hissed. "And she’s not ‘our kid’. It’s just a doll." Chloe glanced around her and continued once she saw that everyone had turned back around. "I’m open to any other suggestions."

Philip shrugged. "I have this friend Daryl. His dad’s name is Dave and his mom’s name is Cheryl. They combined their names and got Daryl. We could do the same thing."

"What, Chlip?" Chloe asked in disgust.

"Nah, I was thinking more like Phloe," he said.

"Whatever," Chloe sighed. "Like it really matters."

"Hey! That’s my daughter you’re talking about!" Philip teased. It warmed him when he saw how the corners of Chloe’s mouth twitched, as if she was trying to keep from smiling.

Without thinking Philip reached over to Chloe’s hair and began playing with it. He loved how soft it was. He wrapped a strand around his finger, reveling in its texture. He knew from experience that it smelled of strawberries. He briefly closed his eyes and conjured up the scent. Chloe unconsciously leaned her head back into Philip’s hand. She wanted his touch – she just couldn’t admit it. Not to him, not to herself. But her body definitely knew what it wanted, and was vetoing her brain’s protests. Philip felt Chloe leaning into him, and tried to ignore the tightening sensation in his chest. Good grief, but he wanted to kiss her, to hold her in his arms, to feel her melt against him. He had imagined it so many times, had come close to it so many times, that he was dying to know what it would actually feel like. She did insane things to his body just with her movements or with the few touches they had shared. He couldn’t begin to imagine what a kiss would feel like, what her skin would feel like under his fingertips, what she would feel like pressed against him…

Philip swallowed back the words that were rising in his throat. Chloe might haul off and slug him if he suggested dragging her off to the janitor’s closet and kissing her senseless. He untangled his finger and pulled his hand back. "You had this floaty thing in your hair," he mumbled.

"Oh," Chloe replied quietly. She didn’t want Philip to stop. But he apparently didn’t want to touch her; he was just getting something out of her hair. She felt so stupid. Why did she always feel so stupid around him? Like she was always going to say or do the wrong thing? She hated that she had no experience at all with boys. She was sure Belle or Mimi or even Jan would know just what to say, just how to act. Maybe it was better if she pushed him away now so that she didn’t have to worry about getting hurt later.

**************************************************

Mrs. Morris let them have the class period to work on their projects, and Chloe and Philip were focusing on dividing their household responsibilities.

"I’m going to assume you aren’t a Neanderthal and that you’ll agree to splitting the household duties evenly," Chloe said as she looked over the sheet in front of her. "Especially since I’m the breadwinner here." She couldn’t resist the dig.

"I know one damn thing," Philip laughed, "You are not cooking. I’ve witnessed the mess you call cooking."

Chloe tried to look indignant, but couldn’t. She joined him in his laughter. "Okay, fine. You do the cooking."

"Oysters, chocolate, strawberries and champagne every night," Philip proclaimed as Chloe’s face once again got flushed. How did he manage to do that to her on such a regular basis? She’d never been embarrassed as often as she was with Philip. He was always teasing her, but she actually liked it…liked the images his words conjured up.

"What about laundry?" Chloe asked, eager to divert his attention away from her.

"You can do the laundry," Philip offered with a wicked look in his eye. "I like some starch in my shorts."

Chloe was plagued by the thought of Philip in nothing but his underwear. She shook her head. "If you think I’m going to dedicate my life to your underwear, you’re sadly mistaken."

"Come on, not even one sock?" Philip pleaded jokingly. When Chloe shook her head no again, Philip sighed in defeat. "All right, I guess I’ll have to dedicate my life to your underwear then." He leaned in close to whisper naughtily in her ear, "Maybe you should flash me a sneak preview so that I’ll know what I’m working with."

Chloe gasped, and tried to banish all thoughts of giving him just what he was asking for. Be outraged, Chloe, she thought. Stay angry. Anger you know how to deal with. These other sensations and feelings that Philip gave her – those she had no clue how to cope with, and it terrified her. The slight outrage quickly dissipated as it always did when Philip looked at her with those warm sea-blue eyes.

The bell rang, and Chloe mechanically began collecting her books and putting them into her bag. "Hey, Chloe, do you want to go to lunch with me?" Philip asked.

"Lunch with you?" Chloe repeated as she looked at him.

"Yeah, you know, lunch. It’s that meal that comes in between dinner and breakfast," Philip said, his eyes sparkling.

"Oh, I don’t know. I wouldn’t want to ruin your reputation or anything," she responded. How could she keep him at arm’s length if she kept spending so much time with him? He’d gotten too close to her already. She’d never let anyone else in, but Philip was somehow managing to burrow closer and closer to her heart. She just couldn’t let that happen.

"How could it ruin my rep to have lunch with the prettiest girl in school?" Philip asked while noticing the sudden defiant rise of her chin. She was stubborn. But for some reason instead of being a deterrent to Philip, he enjoyed her hesitation. It would make her finally giving in that much sweeter. And he was sure that she would.

"Come on, I have to eat, you have to eat. What’s so bad about us eating together?" he prodded. "I’m not asking you to marry me, Chloe. Just have lunch with me."

"We’re already married," Chloe said with a shy grin.

"Oh yeah," Philip smiled. "So maybe it’s your wifely duty to accompany me to lunch."

Be strong, she told herself. "Maybe another time."

Philip tried to hide his disappointment. "I’ll hold you to that."

He grabbed his own books and stood up. "Should we get together tonight to work on our project?" he asked.

Chloe also stood up. "Yeah, but let’s not do it at my house. Nancy will hover the entire time and I’d hate to end up being sent to prison for first-degree murder."

"Ouch. Sounds like you guys have some problems."

Chloe nodded her assent. "She drives me crazy. I just feel like…because of her my whole life has been a lie. And I hate being lied to," she snapped vehemently.

Guilt poured through Philip like thick syrup. He immediately had a flashback to his and Shawn’s earlier conversation. He should tell her. He shouldn’t let this be between them. What if she eventually found out? He should just tell her and accept whatever consequences she gave him.

"Chloe? I need to tell you something."

To be continued…